Los cambios sucesivos

Initially, analysis was undertaken looking at the impact of gender, work experience, nationality and institution on the skills scale.

163 4.7.1.1 Skills and Gender: all participants

Descriptive Statistics: Skills and Gender

N Mean Std. Deviation

Skills ALL As 450 Male 210 5.2524 .79069

Female 240 5.0812 .77521

An independent samples t test was conducted to test the effects of gender on skills. The mean score of males on the variable ‘Skills All Participants’ is statistically significantly higher, t (448) =2.31, p=0.021 than the mean score of females on the same variable.

Thus, the null hypothesis may be rejected. In other words, looking at the snapshot of 450 participants in postgraduate management education, males’ perception of their skills is higher than females’ perception, though Cohen’s effect size value (d=0.22) suggests this is a weak effect.

4.7.1.2 Skills and Work Experience: All participants

Descriptive Statistics: Skills and Work Experience

N Mean Std. Deviation

With work experience 329 5.2836 .77253

Without work experience 121 4.8281 .72723

When tested to determine the appropriateness of using an independent t test, the assumption of normal distribution was violated.

Tests of Normality: Skills Scale: All Students

Kolmogorov-Smirnov Shapiro-Wilk

Work Experience

Statistic Df Sig. Statistic df Sig.

SkillsALL As 450 YES .083 329 .000 .988 329 .009

164

Though some degree of non-normal distribution is acceptable (Saunders et al, 2009; Sarantakos, 2005) given the strength of this result, it was decided to use a non-parametric test as to whether a statistical difference existed between those with and without work experience, and in this case the Mann-Whitney test was selected as the non-parametric equivalent (Cohen et al, 2011; Burns, 2000). The Mann-Whitney test (U=12577.500, p<0.001) indicates a statistically significant difference between perceptions of skills of students with work experience, and those with no work experience. On this evidence the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the two categories may be rejected. Using Mann- Whitney, effect size may be inferred from an examination of the difference in the mean ranks (Burns, 2000). Thus, with reference to the descriptive statistics, analysis suggests students with work experience perceive their skills to be higher than students without work experience.

4.7.1.3 Skills and Nationality: All Participants

As noted earlier, the 19 categories for nationality were recoded into 6, in line with the framework used in the National Census.

For the purpose of the ongoing statistical analysis regards the impact of nationality it was decided to exclude the categories of ‘mixed’ and ‘other’, given the small numbers they represent, and the subsequent small proportion of the data set (see Fig. 47).

Fig 47 Proportion of Students in Excluded Nationality Categories

Category Number in total data set % of total in data set % they represent of 152 participants at start of the programme % they represent of 109 participants on completion of programme Mixed 6 1.3% 1.3% 1.8% Other 15 3.3% 3.2% 3.6% total 21 4.6% 4.6% 5.5%

165

Thus, detailed analysis relating to nationality is focussed on the larger groups-White (n=70), Asian/Asian British (n=194), Black/Black British (n=66) and Chinese (n=99).

ANOVA was considered as a means of exploring the impact of nationality, as oppose to the independent t test, since there are more than three categories within the variable. Again the data was assessed to determine appropriate tests, the assumptions broadly the same as those above for the t tests (Antonius, 2013; Kirkpatrick et al, 2011). In this case the data was not found to be normally distributed for all groups.

Kolmogorov-Smirnova _Shapiro-Wilk

Nationality Tests of

Normality Statistic df Sig. Statistic Df Sig.

Skills ALL As 450 White .075 70 .200* _{.966 70 .058}

asian/asian british .068 194 .027 .989 194 .158

black/black british .092 66 .200* _{.943 66 .005}

Chinese .062 99 .200* _{.991 99 .718}

In addition homogeneity of variances (p < 0.001) suggested evidence of differing variances in the different groups. Given this, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used as appropriate non-parametric equivalent of ANOVA (Cohen et al 2011; Burns 2000).

Descriptive statistics are presented thus which suggests Black/Black British students perceive their levels of skills highest among the 4 groups.

166 Nationality and Skills: All Participants

Nationality and Skills : all students

N Mean Std. Deviation White 70 5.1543 .64487 Asian/British Asian 194 5.2010 .82311 Black/Black British 66 5.6273 .80566 Chinese 99 4.8000 .62857 Total 429 5.1664 .79118

Calculating the Kruskal-Wallis statistic resulted in the following (χ2 = 48.640, p< 0.001) suggesting a statistically significant difference between the groups. The Kruskal-Wallis test indicates that there is a difference, but not where the difference exists (Cohen et al, 2011; Colman et al, 2008). In order to determine precisely where the difference is statistically significant, pairwise comparisons using Mann-Whitney can be undertaken (Burns, 2000). Although, as in this case, Post-hoc tests which would give this insight are available to be used where there is no homogeneity of variance (Antonius, 2013; Cohen et al, 2009), the data also violates the requirement for normal distribution. In violating two of the assumptions, a more cautious approach was adopted, hence the pairwise comparisons.

The Mann-Whitney test was used to examine the difference between each pairing of nationality, and presented below:

Pairwise Comparisons of Nationality

Nationality Pairing Mann-Whitney U Test White, Asian/Asian British U= 6578.500, p> 0.05 White, Black/Black British U = 1403.500, p < 0.001

White, Chinese U = 2324.500 p< 0.001

Asian/Asian British, Black/Black British U = 4430.000 p< 0.001 Asian/Asian British, Chinese U = 6740.000 p < 0.001 Black/Black British, Chinese U = 1206.000 p <0.001

167

The difference in perceptions of skills between Asian/Asian British and White students is of no statistical significance, thus the null hypothesis that there is no difference between the two is retained. The difference in perceptions of skills between all other nationality pairings is statistically significant. With reference to the descriptive statistics it is possible to surmise that Black / Black British Students perceive their skills higher than any other group, and this difference in perception is statistically significant. Further, the Chinese students perceive their skills lower than any other group and this difference in perception is statistically significant, findings which will be discussed in the following chapter.

4.7.1.4 Skills and Institution: All Participants

Descriptive statistics showed little difference in the mean scores.

Descriptive Statistics: Skills and Institution

N Mean Std. Deviation

SkillsALL As 450 Institution One 181 5.0851 .69805

Institution Two 269 5.2123 .83780

An independent samples t test was undertaken to test the effects of institution on skills perception. The mean score of students at Institution One did not differ statistically significantly, t (448) = - 1.69, p=0.08 from that of the mean score of students at Institution Two. This result is too weak to reject the null hypothesis that students at the different institutions differ in their perception of skills. In other words, there is no difference in students’ perceptions of their skills in relation to their institution of study. In addition, Cohen’s effect size value (d = -0.16) suggests low practical significance.